Robert Herjavec

Shark Tank Biography

Robert Herjavec is one of North America's most recognizable and respected business leaders. Born in Eastern Europe, he arrived to North America on a boat with his parents after escaping Communism in the former Yugoslavia. From delivering newspapers and waiting tables, to launching a computer company from his basement, his drive to achieve has led him to the fulfillment of a better life for himself and his family.

A dynamic entrepreneur, Robert Herjavec has built and sold several IT companies. In 2003, Robert founded Herjavec Group, and it quickly became one of North America's fastest growing technology companies. Today, Herjavec Group is a global leader in information security specializing in managed security services, consulting, delivery and incident response for enterprise level organizations. Robert's ability to interpret industry trends and understand enterprise business security demands has helped him achieve the profile of a global cybersecurity expert. He has served as a Cybersecurity Advisor for the Government of Canada, participated in the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Task Force for Cybersecurity. His views on the threat landscape, on emerging technologies and on the need for a proactive security framework are regularly profiled across print, digital and television mediums.

His inspiring books, Driven, The Will to Win and most recently You Don't Have to Be a Shark, have earned him the title of bestselling author.

To Robert, running a business is a lot like one of his greatest passions, racing cars. He believes, "You have to stay laser-focused when driving a car over 200 miles an hour, and the same approach is required when growing a business in today's world of rapidly changing technology."

Herjavec is married to Dancing with the Stars pro Kym Johnson and splits his time between Toronto and Los Angeles. He is the proud father of three children. Robert is involved with many charities, including the Humane Society, the America Cancer Society, PLAY – Physical Lifestyles for Autistic Youth, and Seattle's Union Gospel Mission.

You can follow Herjavec on Twitter @robertherjavec, linkedin.com/in/RobertHerjavec/, Herjavecgroup.com, RobertHerjavec.com

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Errata

In Episode 9.05 during the pitch for the Kwik-Hang deal, Robert mentioned that, before emigrating to Canada, his father had been arrested and jailed by the authorities twenty-three times.

Shark Comparison

On the show, Robert often comes across as "often the bridesmaid, never the bride" in that he'll make an offer to kick off the bidding but the contestants appear to rarely pick him. This is born out by the fact that his total number of deals pales in comparison to Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner who often each make double the number of deals as he does.

His category investment chart is skewed by the fact that on the show he made an "investment" in Zero Pollution Motors for a whopping $5,000,000. This deal never came to fruition though. When removing the Tech category from the equation, however, he appears to be a well rounded investor with equal numbers of deals and money invested per category.